Super-bulls bred for rodeo
Everyone knows what a rodeo looks like, but most people don’t know that today, for this sport, bulls are being specially bred to be tougher, meaner and stronger.
Breeders are trying everything to create the next genetically modified super-bull, making this sport even more incredibly dangerous.
Millions of people across the globe still flock to the adrenaline-charged arenas of professional bull-riding, or PBR.
The aim of the game is to stay on a bull for eight seconds while holding on with only one hand.
Riders draw their bulls at random and breeders are doing their best to deliver animals that can't be beaten.
One of the most revered men on the US circuit is Australia's own Ben Jones. He's one of the best in the game and is in good standing to take home the coveted $1 million world title.
Jones, 35, has broken a dozen bones and even been kicked in the face by one of the one-tonne beasts.
He says bull riding today is completely different to a decade ago.
"[They are] totally different, totally different you know, the genetics they have got over here is just phenomenal," Ben Jones said.
"I have been trodden on, I have been whipped down on the back of one's head - that’s when I lost most of my teeth."
"I got them fixed... and about three weeks later they got knocked out again."
Like horse-racing, breeders are doing everything they can to make the strongest animals in the game.
"I'd say that the athleticism of the bull and the danger factor along with it has significantly increased,"
Jones added.
"It is identical to the horse racing world...figure out what you can do to breed the fastest and the best and that’s what everybody’s trying to do."
But for all of these guys, their next ride could be their last.
"If a bull’s really bucking and he’s just so powerful and he’s blowing up in the air twisting and he’s got all these crazy things going on and you go flying out the back… it’s like being pushed off a cliff you can’t necessarily control how you land," commentator Brandon Bates said.
"We’ve had guys get killed, I mean, it happens."
Bates has seen hundreds of bad falls and says even the best in the industry can't avoid injury.
"When [Jones] competes I hold my breath, I mean, I hold my breath because I’m scared what the next serious blow you know may hold for him."
Darren Brandenberg is one of the top breeders in Australia and a former bull-riding champ. He has ridden some of the best in the game and now trains them.
"They’re athletes; they have a very high worth and they’re treated like members of the family," he said.
"They’re taken care of, they’re the pride and joy of the people that own them."
His current star is Gotcha Rockin, an Indonesian Banteng who is lighter, faster and more agile than some of the bulls on the circuit. Gotcha Rockin is undefeated in more than 50 rides making him a hot commodity.
"In America we are talking $100,000 at the moment," Brandenberg said.
Find out more about the Professional Bull Riding championships in Sydney this July.
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